All about DOMS

Imagine this: A couple of days ago, you did a strenuous workout for the first time ever, or just your first time in a while

You did some squats, deadlifts, pushups and rows etc

And during your workout time, you felt bloody great

But now it’s a couple of days on and everything hurts. It’s a struggle to lift your arms to style your hair and it hurts to sit on the toilet seat

So what are you supposed to do? Cold bath to numb the soreness or a hot bath until you resemble a prune?

Well, this is called DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) and we’re gonna talk about it!

Firstly, don’t panic! DOMS is completely normal part of the recovery process and you will be fine!

To put it simply, DOMS is because of the tiny tears in your muscles from strenuous activity meaning you just did things that you body is not used to

It tends to be at its worst about 48 hours after training but it can happen any time after your training day.

To note: This should be a general soreness and ache, not a sharp, stabbing feeling!

Is it a good or bad thing?

So is this muscle soreness good for you? And does it mean it’s working?

When you exercise (especially strength training), you’re breaking down your muscles and then need a bit of time to then rebuild themselves to then get stronger

So if you’re supposed to break down your muscles, then soreness is good, so then therefore DOMS should be your new best friend, right? Wellllll…

Yes, being sore after a workout can be a sign that you pushed your muscles hard enough to get a response from them but this doesn’t mean that DOMS is something we want after every workout.

Once you get used to this new level of training, DOMS will go away and you can still make great progress without this constant soreness. i.e Don’t think that you have to be sore to prove that you’ve had a good workout!

Most of your progress will come without DOMS. And we’re all about that long term progress!!

But what about today?

So, back to the scenario at the start where the DOMS has kicked in properly about 2 days after your last workout, but you’re due to train again today.

This may sound horrible and counterintuitive but: You’re going to go and do your workout today!

If it’s actually only the day after, you can do some light activity such as a walk and some yoga.

If it is 2 days after, you’re going to go and do your proper training session.

When we exercise, we increase the blood flow to our muscles which then actually helps to speed up recovery! (And, no, this won’t cause further damage to your muscles!)

It will feel horrible for at least the first few reps, but each rep is then helping to stretch out those muscles and making them less sore. And proving to yourself that you’re not a quitter and then you can still do hard things!

Movement is the best cure for soreness. (I train bloody heavy most of the time, barely get DOMS and attribute this to having a generally active lifestyle where I move around a lot!)

So, if in doubt, move and stretch!

Your range of motion will be much smaller in those worst couple of days after the initial workout but know that all the movement will be helping!

So as a TLDR:

- Don’t be scared of DOMS

- Stick to your normal workout schedule

- Use light activity and stretching to recover quicker and feel better!